The Life of George Washington, Vol. 2 (of 5)
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THE
LIFE
OF
GEORGE WASHINGTON,
COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE
AMERICAN FORCES,
DURING THE WAR WHICH ESTABLISHED THE INDEPENDENCE OF HIS COUNTRY, AND
FIRST PRESIDENT
OF THE
UNITED STATES.
COMPILED UNDER THE INSPECTION OF
THE HONOURABLE BUSHROD WASHINGTON,
FROM
_ORIGINAL PAPERS_
BEQUEATHED TO HIM BY HIS DECEASED RELATIVE, AND NOW IN POSSESSION OF
THE AUTHOR.
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED,
AN INTRODUCTION,
CONTAINING A COMPENDIOUS VIEW OF THE COLONIES PLANTED BY THE ENGLISH
ON THE
CONTINENT OF NORTH AMERICA,
FROM THEIR SETTLEMENT TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THAT WAR WHICH TERMINATED
IN THEIR
INDEPENDENCE.
BY JOHN MARSHALL.
VOL. II.
THE CITIZENS' GUILD
OF WASHINGTON'S BOYHOOD HOME
FREDERICKSBURG, VA.
1926
Printed in the U.S.A.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
Birth of Mr. Washington.... His mission to the French on the Ohio....
Appointed Lieutenant Colonel of a regiment of regular troops....
Surprises Monsieur Jumonville.... Capitulation of fort Necessity....
Is appointed aid-de-camp to General Braddock.... Defeat and death of
that general.... Is appointed to the command of a regiment.... Extreme
distress of the frontiers, and exertions of Colonel Washington to
augment the regular forces of the colony.... Expedition against fort
Du Quesne.... Defeat of Major Grant.... Fort Du Quesne evacuated by
the French, and taken possession of by the English.... Resignation of
Colonel Washington.... His marriage.
CHAPTER II.
Colonel Washington appointed commander-in-chief of the American
forces.... Arrives at Cambridge.... Strength and disposition of the
two armies.... Deficiency of the Americans in arms and ammunitions....
Falmouth burnt.... Success of the American cruisers.... Distress of
the British from the want of fresh provisions.... Measures to form a
continental army.... Difficulty of re-enlisting the troops.... Plan
for attacking Boston.... General Lee detached to New York....
Possession taken of the heights of Dorchester.... Boston evacuated....
Correspondence respecting prisoners.
CHAPTER III.
Invasion of Canada meditated.... Siege of St. John's.... Capture of
fort Chamblee.... Carleton defeated at Longueisle.... St. John's
capitulated.... Montreal surrenders.... Arnold's expedition.... He
arrives before Quebec.... Retires to Point Aux Trembles.... Montgomery
lays siege to Quebec.... Unsuccessful attack on that place.... Death
of Montgomery.... Blockade of Quebec.... General Thomas takes command
of the army.... The blockade raised.... General Sullivan takes the
command.... Battle of the Three Rivers.... Canada evacuated....
General Carleton constructs a fleet.... Enters lake Champlain....
Defeats the American flotilla.... Takes possession of Crown Point....
Retires into winter quarters.
CHAPTER IV.
Transaction in Virginia.... Action at Great Bridge.... Norfolk
evacuated.... Burnt.... Transactions in North Carolina.... Action at
Moore's Creek Bridge.... Invasion of South Carolina.... British fleet
repulsed at Fort Moultrie.... Transactions in New York.... Measures
leading to Independence.... Independence declared.
CHAPTER V.
Lord and Sir William Howe arrive before New York.... Circular letter
of Lord Howe.... State of the American Army.... The British land in
force on Long Island.... Battle of Brooklyn.... Evacuation of Long
Island.... Fruitless negotiations.... New York evacuated.... Skirmish
on the heights of Haerlem.... Letter on the state of the army.
CHAPTER VI.
The British land at Frog's Neck.... The American army evacuates York
Island, except fort Washington.... Both armies move towards the White
Plains.... Battle of the White Plains.... The British army returns to
Kingsbridge.... General Washington crosses the North river.... The
lines of fort Washington carried by the British, and the garrison made
prisoners.... Evacuation of fort Lee.... Weakness of the American
army.... Ineffectual attempts to raise the militia.... General
Washington retreats through Jersey.... General Washington crosses the
Delaware.... Danger of Philadelphia.... Capture of General Lee.... The
British go into winter quarters.... Battle of Trenton.... Of
Princeton.... Firmness of congress.
CHAPTER VII.
American army inoculated.... General Heath moves to Kingsbridge....
Returns to Peekskill.... Skirmishes.... State of the army....
Destruction of stores at Peekskill.... At Danbury.... Expedition to
Sagg Harbour.... Camp formed at Middlebrook.... Sir William Howe moves
out to Somerset Court House.... Returns to Amboy.... Attempts to cut
off the retreat of the American army to Middlebrook.... Lord
Cornwallis skirmishes with Lord Stirling.... General Prescott
surprised and taken.... The British army embarks.
CHAPTER VIII.
General Washington commences his march to the Delaware.... Takes
measures for checking Burgoyne.... British army land at Elk River....
General Washington advances to Brandywine.... Retreat of Maxwell....
Defeat at Brandywine.... Slight skirmish near the White Horse, and
retreat to French Creek.... General Wayne surprised.... General Howe
takes possession of Philadelphia.... Removal of Congress to Lancaster.
CHAPTER IX.
Measures to cut off the communication between the British army and
fleet.... Battle of Germantown.... Measures to intercept supplies to
Philadelphia.... Attack on fort Mifflin.... On Red Bank.... The
Augusta blows up.... Fort Mifflin evacuated.... Fort Mercer
evacuated.... The British open the communication with their fleet....
Washington urged to attack Philadelphia.... General Howe marches out
to Chestnut Hill.... Returns to Philadelphia.... General Washington
goes into winter quarters.
CHAPTER X.
Inquiry into the conduct of General Schuyler.... Burgoyne appears
before Ticonderoga.... Evacuation of that place,... of
Skeensborough.... Colonel Warner defeated.... Evacuation of fort
Anne.... Proclamation of Burgoyne.... Counter-proclamation of
Schuyler.... Burgoyne approaches fort Edward.... Schuyler retires to
Saratoga,... to Stillwater.... St. Leger invests fort Schuyler....
Herkimer defeated.... Colonel Baum detached to Bennington.... is
defeated.... Brechman defeated.... St. Leger abandons the siege of
fort Schuyler.... Murder of Miss M'Crea.... General Gates takes
command.... Burgoyne encamps on the heights of Saratoga.... Battle of
Stillwater.... Burgoyne retreats to Saratoga.... Capitulates.... The
British take forts Montgomery and Clinton.... The forts Independence
and Constitution evacuated by the Americans.... Ticonderoga evacuated
by the British.
CHAPTER XI.
Defects in the Commissary departments.... Distress of the army at
Valley Forge.... The army subsisted by impressments.... Combination in
congress against General Washington.... Correspondence between him and
General Gates.... Distress of the army for clothes.... Washington's
exertions to augment the army.... Congress sends a committee to
camp.... Attempt to surprise Captain Lee.... Congress determines on a
second expedition to Canada.... Abandons it.... General Conway
resigns.... The Baron Steuben appointed Inspector General.... Congress
forbids the embarkation of Burgoyne's army.... Plan of reconciliation
agreed to in Parliament.... Communicated to congress and rejected....
Information of treaties between France and the United States....
Complaints of the treatment of prisoners.... A partial exchange agreed
to.
THE LIFE
OF
GEORGE WASHINGTON
CHAPTER I.
Birth of Mr. Washington.... His mission to the French on the
Ohio.... Appointed Lieutenant Colonel of a regiment of
regular troops.... Surprises Monsieur Jumonville....
Capitulation of fort Necessity.... Is appointed aid-de-camp
to General Braddock.... Defeat and death of that general....
Is appointed to the command of a regiment.... Extreme
distress of the frontiers, and exertions of Colonel
Washington to augment the regular forces of the colony....
Expedition against fort Du Quesne.... Defeat of Major
Grant.... Fort Du Quesne evacuated by the French, and taken
possession of by the English.... Resignation of Colonel
Washington.... His marriage.
{1732}
[Sidenote: Birth of Mr. Washington.]
George Washington, the third son of Augustine Washington, was born on
the 22d of February, 1732, near the banks of the Potowmac, in the
county of Westmoreland, in Virginia. His father first married Miss
Butler, who died in 1728; leaving two sons, Lawrence and Augustine. In
1730, he intermarried with Miss Mary Ball, by whom he had four sons,
George, John, Samuel and Charles; and one daughter, Betty, who
intermarried with Colonel Fielding Lewis, of Fredericksburg.
His great grandfather, John Washington, a gentleman of a respectable
family, had emigrated from the north of England about the year 1657,
and settled on the place where Mr. Washington was born.
At the age of ten years he lost his father. Deprived of one parent, he
became an object of more assiduous attention to the other; who
continued to impress those principles of religion and virtue on his
tender mind, which constituted the solid basis of a character that was
maintained through all the trying vicissitudes of an eventful life.
But his education was limited to those subjects, in which alone the
sons of gentlemen, of moderate fortune, were, at that time, generally
instructed. It was confined to acquisitions strictly useful, not even
extending to foreign languages.
In 1743, his eldest brother intermarried with the daughter of the
Honourable George William Fairfax, then a member of the council; and
this connexion introduced Mr. Washington to Lord Fairfax, the
proprietor of the Northern Neck of Virginia, who offered him, when in
his eighteenth year, an appointment as surveyor, in the western part
of that territory. His patrimonial estate being inconsiderable, this
appointment was readily accepted; and in the performance of its
duties, he acquired that information respecting vacant lands, and
formed those opinions concerning their future value, which afterwards
contributed greatly to the increase of his private fortune.
{1750}
Those powerful attractions which the profession of arms presents to
young and ardent minds, possessed their full influence over Mr.
Washington. Stimulated by the enthusiasm of military genius, to take
part in the war in which Great Britain was then engaged, he had
pressed so earnestly to enter into the navy, that, at the age of
fifteen, a midshipman's warrant was obtained for him. The interference
of a timid and affectionate mother deferred the commencement, and
changed the direction of his military career. Four years afterwards,
at a time when the militia were to be trained for actual service, he
was appointed one of the Adjutants General of Virginia, with the rank
of Major. The duties annexed to this office soon yielded to others of
a more interesting character.
France was beginning to develop the vast plan of connecting her
extensive dominions in America, by uniting Canada with Louisiana. The
troops of that nation had taken possession of a tract of country
claimed by Virginia, and had commenced a line of posts, to be extended
from the Lakes to the Ohio. The attention of Mr. Dinwiddie, Lieutenant
Governor of that Province, was attracted to these supposed
encroachments; and he deemed it his duty to demand, in the name of the
King his master, that they should be suspended.
{1753}
This mission was toilsome and hazardous. The Envoy would be under the
necessity of passing through an extensive and almost unexplored
wilderness, intersected with rugged mountains and considerable rivers,
and inhabited by fierce savages, who were either hostile to the
English, or of doubtful attachment. While the dangers and fatigues of
this service deterred others from undertaking it, they seem to have
possessed attractions for Mr. Washington, and he engaged in it with
alacrity.
{October 31.}
[Sidenote: His mission to the French on the Ohio.]
On receiving his commission, he left Williamsburg and arrived, on the
14th of November, at Wills' creek, then the extreme frontier
settlement of the English, where guides were engaged to conduct him
over the Alleghany mountains. After surmounting the impediments
occasioned by the snow and high waters, he reached the mouth of Turtle
creek, where he was informed that the French General was dead, and
that the greater part of the army had retired into winter quarters.
Pursuing his route, he examined the country through which he passed
with a military eye, and selected the confluence of the Monongahela
and Alleghany rivers, the place where fort Du Quesne was afterwards
erected by the French, as an advantageous position, which it would be
adviseable to seize and to fortify immediately.
{1754}
{January 16}
After employing a few days among the Indians in that neighbourhood,
and procuring some of their chiefs to accompany him, whose fidelity he
took the most judicious means to secure, he ascended the Alleghany
river. Passing one fort at the mouth of French creek, he proceeded up
the stream to a second, where he was received by Monsieur Le Gardeur
de St. Pierre, the commanding officer on the Ohio, to whom he
delivered the letter of Mr. Dinwiddie, and from whom he received an
answer with which he returned to Williamsburg. The exertions made by
Mr. Washington on this occasion, the perseverance with which he
surmounted the difficulties of the journey, and the judgment displayed
in his conduct towards the Indians, raised him in the public opinion,
as well as in that of the Lieutenant Governor. His journal,[1] drawn
up for the inspection of Mr. Dinwiddie, was published, and impressed
his countrymen with very favourable sentiments of his understanding
and fortitude.
[Footnote 1: See note No. I. at the end of the volume.]
[Sidenote: Appointed lieutenant colonel of a regiment of regular
troops.]
[Sidenote: Surprises Monsieur Jumonville.]
As the answer from the commandant of the French forces on the Ohio
indicated no disposition to withdraw from that country, it was deemed
necessary to make some preparations to maintain the right asserted
over it by the British crown; and the assembly of Virginia authorized
the executive to raise a regiment for that purpose, to consist of
three hundred men. The command of this regiment was given to Mr.
Fry,[2] and Major Washington was appointed Lieutenant Colonel. Anxious
to be engaged in active service, he obtained permission, about the
beginning of April, to advance with two companies to the Great Meadows
in the Alleghany mountains. By this movement he hoped to cover that
frontier, to make himself more perfectly acquainted with the country,
to gain some information respecting the situation and designs of the
French, and to preserve the friendship of the savages. Soon after his
arrival at that place, he was visited by some friendly Indians, who
informed him that the French, having dispersed a party of workmen
employed by the Ohio company to erect a fort on the south-eastern
branch of the Ohio, were themselves engaged in completing a
fortification at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela
rivers: a detachment from which place was then on its march towards
his camp. Open hostilities had not yet commenced; but the country was
considered as invaded: and several circumstances were related,
confirming the opinion that this party was approaching with hostile
views. Among others, it had withdrawn itself some distance from the
path, and had encamped for the night in a bottom, as if to ensure
concealment. Entertaining no doubt of the unfriendly designs with
which these troops were advancing, Lieutenant Colonel Washington
resolved to anticipate them. Availing himself of the offer made by the
Indians to serve him as guides, he proceeded through a dark and rainy
night to the French encampment, which he completely surrounded. At
day-break, his troops fired and rushed upon the party, which
immediately surrendered. One man only escaped capture, and M.
Jumonville alone, the commanding officer, was killed.
[Footnote 2: With an unaffected modesty which the
accumulated honours of his after life could never impair,
Major Washington, though the most distinguished military man
then in Virginia, declined being a candidate for the command
of this regiment. The following letter written on the
occasion to Colonel Richard Corbin, a member of the council,
with whom his family was connected by the ties of friendship
and of affinity, was placed in the hands of the author by
Mr. Francis Corbin, a son of that gentleman.
"DEAR SIR,--In a conversation at Green Spring you gave me
some room to hope for a commission above that of a Major,
and to be ranked among the chief officers of this
expedition. The command of the whole forces is what I
neither look for, expect, or desire; for I must be impartial
enough to confess, it is a charge too great for my youth and
inexperience to be intrusted with. Knowing this, I have too
sincere a love for my country, to undertake that which may
tend to the prejudice of it. But if I could entertain hopes
that you thought me worthy of the post of
Lieutenant-colonel, and would favour me so far as to mention
it at the appointment of officers, I could not but entertain
a true sense of the kindness.
"I flatter myself that under a skilful commander, or man of
sense, (which I most sincerely wish to serve under,) with my
own application and diligent study of my duty, I shall be
able to conduct my steps without censure, and in time,
render myself worthy of the promotion that I shall be
favoured with now."
The commission he solicited was transmitted to him by Mr.
Corbin, in the following laconic letter:
"DEAR GEORGE,--I inclose you your commission. God prosper
you with it.
"Your friend, RICHARD CORBIN."]
While the regiment was on its march to join the detachment advanced in
front, the command devolved on Lieutenant Colonel Washington by the
death of Colonel Fry. Soon after its arrival, it was reinforced by two
independent companies of regulars. After erecting a small stockade at
the Great Meadows, Colonel Washington commenced his march towards fort
Du Quesne, with the intention of dislodging the French from that
place. He had proceeded about thirteen miles, when he was met by some
friendly Indians, who informed him that the French and their savage
allies, "as numerous as the pigeons in the woods," were advancing
rapidly to meet him. Among those who brought this information was a
trusty chief, only two days from the fort on the Ohio, who had
observed the arrival of a considerable reinforcement at that place,
and had heard their intention of marching immediately to attack the
English, with a corps composed of eight hundred French and four
hundred Indians. This intelligence was corroborated by information
previously received from deserters, who had reported that a
reinforcement was expected.
The troops commanded by Colonel Washington were almost destitute of
provisions; and the ground he occupied was not adapted to military
purposes. A road at some distance, leading through other defiles in
the mountains, would enable the French to pass into his rear,
intercept his supplies, and starve him into a surrender, or fight him
with a superiority of three to one.
{June 23.}
In this hazardous situation, a council of war unanimously advised a
retreat to the fort at the Great Meadows, now termed fort Necessity;
where the two roads united, and where the face of the country was such
as not to permit an enemy to pass unperceived. At that place, it was
intended to remain, until reinforcements of men, and supplies of
provisions, should arrive.
{July 2.}
{Third.}
[Sidenote: Capitulation of fort Necessity.]
{Fourth.}
In pursuance of this advice, Colonel Washington returned to fort
Necessity, and began a ditch around the stockade. Before it was
completed, the French, amounting to about fifteen hundred men,
commanded by Monsieur de Villier, appeared before the fort, and
immediately commenced a furious attack upon it. They were received
with great intrepidity by the Americans, who fought partly within the
stockade, and partly in the surrounding ditch, which was nearly filled
with mud and water. Colonel Washington continued the whole day on the
outside of the fort, encouraging the soldiers by his countenance and
example. The assailants fought under cover of the trees and high
grass, with which the country abounds. The engagement was continued
with great resolution from ten in the morning until dark; when
Monsieur de Villier demanded a parley, and offered terms of
capitulation. The proposals first made were rejected; but, in the
course of the night, articles were signed, by which the fort was
surrendered, on condition that its garrison should be allowed the
honours of war--should be permitted to retain their arms and baggage,
and be suffered to march without molestation into the inhabited parts
of Virginia. The capitulation being in French--a language not
understood by any person in the garrison, and being drawn up hastily
in the night, contains an expression which was inaccurately translated
at the time, and of which advantage has been since taken, by the
enemies of Mr. Washington, to imply an admission on his part, that
Monsieur Jumonville was assassinated. An account of the transaction
was published by Monsieur de Villier, which drew from Colonel
Washington a letter to a friend, completely disproving the calumny.
Though entirely discredited at the time, it was revived at a
subsequent period, when circumstances, well understood at the date of
the transaction, were supposed to be forgotten.[3]
[Footnote 3: See note No. II. at the end of the volume.]
The loss of the Americans in this affair is not ascertained. From a
return made on the 9th of July, at Wills' Creek, it appears that the
killed and wounded, of the Virginia regiment, amounted to fifty-eight;
but the loss sustained by the two independent companies is not stated.
That of the assailants was supposed to be more considerable.
Great credit was given to Colonel Washington by his countrymen, for
the courage displayed on this occasion. The legislature evinced its
satisfaction with the conduct of the whole party, by passing a vote of
thanks[4] to him, and the officers under his command; and by giving
three hundred pistoles, to be distributed among the soldiers engaged
in the action.
[Footnote 4: To the vote of thanks, the officers made the
following reply:
"We, the officers of the Virginia regiment, are highly
sensible of the particular mark of distinction with which
you have honoured us, in returning your thanks for our
behaviour in the late action; and can not help testifying
our grateful acknowledgments, for your '_high sense_' of
what we shall always esteem a duty to our country and the
best of kings.
"Favoured with your regard, we shall zealously endeavour to
deserve your applause, and, by our future actions, strive to
convince the worshipful house of burgesses, how much we
esteem their approbation, and, as it ought to be, regard it
as the voice of our country.
"Signed for the whole corps,
"GEO: WASHINGTON."]
The regiment returned to Winchester, to be recruited; soon after which
it was joined by a few companies from North Carolina and Maryland. On
the arrival of this reinforcement, the Lieutenant Governor, with the
advice of council, regardless of the condition or number of the
forces, ordered them immediately to march over the Alleghany
mountains, and to expel the French from fort Du Quesne, or to build
one in its vicinity.
{August.}
{September.}
The little army in Virginia, which was placed under the command of
Colonel Innes, from North Carolina, did not, as now reinforced, exceed
half the number of the enemy, and was neither provided with the means
of moving, nor with supplies for a winter campaign. With as little
consideration, directions had been given for the immediate completion
of the regiment, without furnishing a single shilling for the
recruiting service. Although a long peace may account for many errors
at the commencement of war, some surprise will be felt at such
ill-considered and ill-judged measures. Colonel Washington
remonstrated strongly against these orders, but prepared to execute
them. The assembly, however, having risen without making any provision
for the farther prosecution of the war, this wild expedition was laid
aside, and the Virginia regiment was reduced to independent companies.
In the course of the winter, orders were received "for settling the
rank of the officers of his majesty's forces when serving with the
provincials in North America." These orders directed "that all
officers commissioned by the King, or by his General in North America,
should take rank of all officers commissioned by the Governors of the
respective provinces; and farther, that the general and field officers
of the provincial troops should have no rank when serving with the
general and field officers commissioned by the crown; but that all
captains, and other inferior officers of the royal troops, should take
rank over provincial officers of the same grade, having senior
commissions."